Ensemble Offspring teams up with Halcyon and Synergy Percussion to present Steve Reich’s seminal Tehillim. This driving, inspirational piece for four female voices, six percussionists and large instrumental ensemble, is an explosive mix of folk and sacred music with crisp, ecstatic rhythms and exotic melodic lines. Sung in ancient Hebrew and based on biblical psalms, Tehillim is a musical celebration on the universal themes of joy, hope and divine love.

This truly international program also includes the Australian premiere of György Ligeti’s Sippal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel, a fantastical song cycle for mezzo soprano and percussion; the other-worldly timbres of Claude Vivier’s Bouchara, an exultation of love in an imaginary language; and the world premiere of Damien Ricketson’s No More than Liquid, ‘water music’ for the 21st century.

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“The four voices of Halcyon drove the work on with endless energy while Ensemble Offspring and Synergy Percussion kept up brilliantly. Central to the whole shebang was Peelman, who bobbed and weaved his way through the complex rhythmics like a 21st-century Fred Astaire. All three groups should be congratulated for an inspiring collaboration.”

Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald